Tokyo Fried Chicken Co. - Monterey Park

While eating at Hot Pot, Hot Pot! - Monterey Park, I noticed a crowd of people waiting in front of The Open Door, a Japanese fusion izakaya located in the same corner of Atlantic Boulevard and Garvey Avenue. I made a mental note to check it out, but wasn't in any hurry because there was a no photo policy and well, no photos means no point in going, right?

Then in August 2013, The Open Door shuttered and reopened as Tokyo Fried Chicken Co. Same owner, different menu. Apparently, the rebranding also meant a loosening of the no photo policy. While the menu now focused on fried chicken, that didn't mean the Japanese fusion dishes were gone completely.

On a quiet weeknight, lil' sis and I finally got around to checking out Tokyo Fried Chicken Co.

Christmas Eve Goose Dinner

For Christmas eve, my brother bought a roast goose for dinner. Comes from all the years of watching "A Christmas Carol, he said. Made him curious to find out what roast goose tasted like. I don't recall Ebenezer Scrooge bringing a goose to dinner?

He got it from Sham Tseng BBQ Shop - Monterey Park, which replaced Sam Woo. The goose was roughly the same size as a roast duck, and to be honest, tasted mostly like duck too, although a bit deeper in flavor. It was more than double the cost though!

Hot Pot, Hot Pot! - Monterey Park

Shortly after I dined at Little Fat Sheep - Monterey Park, the owner divested the franchise, turning several of his locations into Happy Sheep Cafe Shabu & Grill - San Gabriel and Happy Sheep Cafe - Rowland Heights. He sold this location to one of the employees, who changed its name to Hot Pot, Hot Pot!

So different owner, but same employees. My friend DP and I decided to check it out one night to see if the food quality was the same too.

Mama's Lu Dumpling House - Monterey Park

For a while a few years ago, Right Way to Eat kept trying to convince me to try other dumpling houses, but I wasn't willing to give up my favorite -- Luscious Dumplings, Inc. - San Gabriel. Well, I've certainly tried other dumpling houses, I just refused to relinquish the title of "favorite" to any other. :)

After going back and forth on various places, we decided to eat at Mama's Lu Dumpling House in Monterey Park. This was partly because it's owned by the daughter of the original mama Lu herself of Dean Sin World - Monterey Park fame, and partly because I was curious about the restaurant that replaced Heavy Noodling, which I liked more for its name than its knife-cut noodles.

Half and Half Tea House - Monterey Park

After dinner at Noodle Guy Vietnamese Restaurant - Alhambra my brother wanted to try Half & Half Tea House in Monterey Park because he had heard us talk about it.


Mostly because the tea is fresh-brewed, comes in giant cups, and is cheaper than Tea Station - Alhambra. Those are my and my siblings' pudding tea, passionfruit tea, and milk teas above.

Those are Half & Half Tea House's normal size cups.

Really.

Cook's Tortas - Monterey Park

On my way to meet my cousin's new baby, I decided to grab some sandwiches from Cook's Tortas - Monterey Park to bring to the new parents. I had first visited the restaurant last summer with oldest nephew and lil' sis before we went to see Casablanca at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. I don't know what possessed us to order the sandwich we did because it was so spicy that the three of us couldn't finish it, nor did we enjoy it very much. So Cook's Tortas stayed on the periphery as a place I should revisit at least one more time before I could blog it, but not as a restaurant that I had to eat at again right away.

So a year went by and I decided to try their food booth at AltaMed's 6th Annual East LA Meets Napa event. I liked my sandwich bite and agua fresca (Mexican fresh beverages) so much that I figured it was worth revisiting.

Capital Seafood Chinese Restaurant (Dim Sum) - Monterey Park

I usually go to Capital Dim Sum & BBQ - Monterey Park, the take-out shop version of the restaurant for quick dim sum fixes. But for the new year, lil' sis and her friend and I figured we would dine in the restaurant. I guess everyone else had the same idea, because even though the restaurant is huge, we still had to wait for a table.



But once inside, the dim sum plates come fast and furious. 

Dean Sin World - Monterey Park

For more than a year now, I've been getting my potsticker and soup dumpling fix at Dean Sin World in Monterey Park. The dumplings are good and cheap, and mama Lu is way nice and almost always gives me freebies. So I tip very generously. And she gives me more freebies to make up for it. So I tip very generously again. And well, you see where this is going? I've also dragged various friends, cousins, aunts, uncles, cousin's cousin, cousin's uncle, nephew, nephew's friend, dad's friend's daughter... I guess I should finally blog about Dean Sin World then huh?

As with many places that have gained popularity among food bloggers, many times the person who discovered the restaurant doesn't get proper credit. You know how I feel about attribution. So it's not just because he's my friend, but because all Dean Sin World hype should be properly credited to Tony of SinoSoul, who discovered it back in 2008.

I first read about Dean Sin World on Pepsi Monster of Right Way to Eat, who said that mama Lu supplies many of the restaurants in the San Gabriel Valley. Not the dumpling houses, but the restaurants who offer dumplings in addition to their menu. But I didn't visit Dean Sin World until last August when Danny of Kung Food Panda took me here since they don't speak English.

Kiki Bakery - Monterey Park

Back in April, shortly after Kiki Bakery in Monterey Park had just opened, I stopped in with my third cousin who wanted some nice bread and rolls to take back with her to Orange County.

This location was pretty spacious, with a boba shop inside.

Kee Wah Bakery - Monterey Park

Past Wing Hop Fung, and on the other side of Capital Dim Sum & BBQ, lies Kee Wah Bakery. The first time I stopped by in the late afternoon, I saw a bunch of Chinese customers grab trays so I dutifully followed suit.

They were loading up on freshly baked rolls, which were still warm from the oven.

Wing Hop Fung - Monterey Park

Three years ago, I attended a traditional Chinese medicine luncheon hosted by Wing Hop Fung. While, the luncheon was certainly an experience, I was more interested by the Wing Hop Fung story. What began as a mom-and-pop shop in Chinatown in 1985 has grown into an operation with two stores of 20,000 and 18,000 square feet selling Chinese medicinal products, teas, gifts, and fine wine.

The children of the original owners gradually took on their parents' business. The daughter works out of the Chinatown location, while the son is often in the Monterey Park store. He was interested in wine and thus began acquiring it to sell. A store selling traditional Chinese medicine side-by-side with fine wine? This I had to see. Especially, when I read that they also hold wine tastings.

Capital Dim Sum & BBQ - Monterey Park

Tired of the lackluster roast pork and roast duck at Sam Woo BBQ - Alhambra and looking for alternatives, I checked out Capital Dim Sum & BBQ in Monterey Park last summer.

Capital Dim Sum & BBQ, serves the same dim sum as Capital Seafood Chinese Restaurant, but is a separate take-out shop next to Wing Hop Fung.

Ocean Star Seafood Restaurant - Monterey Park

Shortly after the '88s and lil' sis graduated from college, the youngest cousin also graduated from high school. I totally forgot about his graduation ceremony, but a few cousins reminded me in time to join his family for dinner afterward at Ocean Star Seafood Restaurant in Monterey Park. And isn't that the best part anyway?

I've blogged Ocean Star's dim sum before, and had remarked that the old school seafood/dim sum restaurants mainly rested on their laurels. Nonetheless, for family gatherings, they're still pretty popular.

Little Fat Sheep - Monterey Park (Closed)

After I told lil' sis's best friend and her other friend about how much I liked the new Jazz Cat Restaurant - San Gabriel, they immediately went that evening. As typical, it was at least a 45 minute wait. So I suggested Little Fat Sheep in Monterey Park.


This time, I remembered to bring along my camera, I just forgot to put the memory card back inside.

Doh!

So lil' sis's other friend and their friend, Nick (who reads my blog and has been in suspense waiting to see himself mentioned (Hi, Nick!)), offered to take photos for me with their cell phones. Lil' sis's other friend won out since I see him more often and it was less of an imposition. I must say, his iPhone photos came out pretty nice!

Daikokuya Original Noodle & Rice-Bowl - Monterey Park

Whenever cousin Q's older brother's friend comes into town, he always invites me to hang with the guys. Yippee! I get to play with the boys. My brother sometimes pulls the "guys only" thing on me, but cousin Q's older brother's friend never does. He's nice like that. :)

Do you want to eat or drink, I asked?

Not terribly hungry?

We could do yakitori and beer at Shin-Sen-Gumi Yakitori Shabu Shabu? His friend perked up at the mention of yakitori so that's where we ended up. Except the little skewers of meat weren't really filling him up that night. Hey! He said he wasn't hungry.

So when cousin Q strolled in later and mentioned that Daikokuya Original Noodle and Rice Bowl had literally just opened up in the same strip mall where we were already dining, I had never seen the guys guzzle their beers so fast.

We walked on over and were told they were completely out of ramen that night. :(

We ended up at JJ Hong Kong Cafe instead.

The next day, cousin Q called me up to see if I wanted to try again for lunch.

Only to find...

...they're only open for dinner.

*Cue sad face again and violin music.*

So a few days later, cousin Q's older brother's friend came back and we were ready to try again. A few months back, he was driving around the San Gabriel Valley and called me to ask for ramen suggestions for lunch. I said if he's willing to drive, he should just go to the Daikokuya in Little Tokyo. He did and loved it.

But when I visited the original location recently with cousin T and her husband, even though they thought it was excellent (and far better than anything that could be found in Portland), I found the broth quite bland. Oh no! I've heard others say the broth has been inconsistent but that was the first time I experienced it myself.

So would this newest location equal the original? Or would it bomb like Elmo of Monster Munching's experience with the Costa Mesa Daikokuya?

Bon Marche Bistro/B Village Cuisine (Dim Sum) - Monterey Park (Closed)

I had written before about Bon Marche Bistro/B Village Cuisine's regular menu, but there was also a short dim sum menu. So yes, these days, you can get dim sum in so many different ways -- without pushcarts, through a take-out window, and in non-dim sum restaurants.


Most of the dim sum dishes cost between $2.90 to $4.90. They are part of the regular menu, but I wanted to keep the dim sum items on a separate post.

Dim Sum Express - Monterey Park

Back in fall 2007, when lil' sis abandoned me, without someone around that I had to feed or a readily available dining companion, I got lazy. Sometimes it seemed like too much effort to go out to eat or to cook for one.

Was this how bachelors felt?

Even something as simple as dim sum would require making plans with someone. Sometimes, a girl just wants a dumpling or two. Long before I realized that several of the big dim sum restaurants had take-out dim sum available for cheap, my family used to go to Dim Sum Express in Monterey Park.

A decade ago, Dim Sum Express was a cheap, cheap option for a quick snack. My cousins and I would sometimes go and just order the cheapest item - 4 potstickers for $1. This was obviously before I discovered dumpling restaurants too. Sure they rather resembled the frozen kind I can buy at the grocery stores, but they were freshly pan-fried and cheap.

Elite Restaurant (Dim Sum) - Monterey Park

I sit on restaurant posts way too long. The first time I visited Elite Restaurant was back in November 2007. I've eaten there several times since, just hadn't gotten around to blogging it.


I met up with one of my college friends, whom I only see when he's between girlfriends (she being the one whose father bribes the hostess for a table at Sea Harbour Seafood Restaurant) or on my birthday. The latter was the reason for this visit.

Elite Restaurant used to be called New Concept. I had been scared to try because before the changeover, I heard cousin Q's older brother's friend once spent $1,600 for dinner!!! It was a full table and he ordered dishes such as shark's fin and lobster, but still... Insane, right? Elite also has one of the most expensive wedding packages I've ever seen. While some tables were in the hundreds, there were packages of $2,000 a table.

Since Elite was relatively new at the time, even though we got there around 10 a.m., we waited 90 minutes for a table. A group of four girls gave up and left and we still waited. Large tables were seated before us. The problem was that there were only a handful of two-person tables, so we had to wait specifically for those tables.

Ocean Star Seafood Restaurant (Dim Sum) - Monterey Park

Speaking of old school Chinese dim sum/seafood restaurants resting on their laurels, last summer I joined lil' sis and the oldest '87 for dim sum at Ocean Star Seafood Restaurant. Like NBC Seafood Restaurant, which is just down the road, the restaurants are huge, designed for large wedding banquets for about 500 people. Nonetheless, I've always had to wait for a table at NBC, not so with Ocean Star.

NBC Seafood Restaurant - Monterey Park

This was actually the Tet (Vietnamese Lunar New Year) banquet for the Year of the Rat in 2008. The Chinese association from my hometown in South-Central Vietnam holds a banquet each lunar new year to award 6th to 12th graders who received good grades. I know! So Asian of them!



When I first moved to Southern California, most of my cousins were still little and it was fun to see them on stage receiving their awards every year. Now, the youngest cousin is almost done with high school and few of my cousins attend the banquets any longer.

My oldest uncle invited me to attend since he was at a table with his in-laws. When you're from a small town, almost everyone knows each other. Add in the fact that the ethnic Chinese-Vietnamese were all pushed out around the same time and the world gets even smaller.